Chonburi residents donated nearly 460,000 baht to the province’s Rural Children Development Fund at their annual fundraiser.
Gov. Pakarathorn Thienchai hosted the “pha pa” merit-making ceremony for civil servants and the public. The event is held on March 31 each year to mark the 1788 birthday of King Rama III and Thailand’s Civil Servants Day.
Bantao Duangnapa, director of the Chonburi Community Development Department, said the rural children’s fund was set up in 1979 by the Interior Ministry. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn took it under her patronage in 1993 and directed that a pha pa fundraiser should be held each year.
This year benefactors donated 459,527 baht, nearly covering the 480,000 spent on Chonburi children in the past year. The fund has a current reserve of 2.56 million baht.
